The Edmonton Rush will travel to Everett, WA this weekend to battle the Washington Stealth in the opening round of the NLL playoffs. Both teams finished the regular season with nine wins and seven losses but Edmonton won the season series 2-1 while outscoring the Stealth 43-32.
Edmonton had he longest winning streak of any team in the league this year in a five game span that included wins over the East Division champion Toronto Rock and the best in the West, the Calgary Roughnecks.
The Rush also have Mark Matthews, who is a shoo-in for the Rookie of the Year Award. The first overall draft pick in the 2012 entry draft has 69 points and his 38 goals is a new franchise single season record. The former Whitby Warrior finished 15th in league scoring and was only 7 goals behind Rhys Duch for the goals lead.
With an 8-5 record goaltender Aaron Bold has been solid between the pipes for the Rush. Not to take anything away from Bold but he hasn’t really had to face too many shots this season; however, he makes big saves when his team needs him. In 16 games Bold has averaged just 27 saves per game which is a testament to the strength of Edmonton’s strong defense.
Edmonton is 8-4 lifetime versus Washington but the Stealth won the only playoff meeting between these two teams; a 12-11 win back on May 8th 2010 (the year the Stealth won their only Champion’s Cup).
Washington has tons of fire power in Lewis Ratcliff (31g 36a), Athan Iannucci (22g 25), Cliff Smith (15g 30a), Rhys Duch (45g 51a)…..the list goes on and on. On paper the Stealth are a powerful force but have struggled at times to find the back of the net; they’ve been held to under seven goals in three different games this year.
Duch led the league in goals this season with 45 and had a career high 96 points. He was the most consistent Stealth player in the regular season as he average 6 points per game and was 29 points ahead of the rest of his team this year.
Not to be outdone by Edmonton’s Mark Matthews; the Stealth also have one of the best rookies in the game in transition player Mitch McMichael. The former Cornell Big Red standout has 14 points (5g 9a) and has played a gritty, in your face game all season. Opponents are always aware when McMichael is on the turf and that distraction is enough to throw opposing players off their game. Every team needs a guy like McMichael and you can bet he will be at the top of his game once again this weekend.
Bobby Snider and Captain Kyle Sorensen will also play huge roles on Saturday as they have all season. Besides his brother Geoff, Snider is the best faceoff man in the league and one of the hungriest players there is; if there’s a loose ball near by you can bet that he’ll be going full tilt after it and doing his best to ensure his team comes out with that ball. Sorensen has established himself as one of the best defenders in pro lacrosse. He has won championships at every level he’s played at and can knock even the strongest guys in the league down to the turf. He also has wheels which is rare for a big man; Sorensen can pick off passes and go end to end at anytime which makes him a huge threat out there. Sorensen has all of the tools that make a great lacrosse player and he’s a born leader; look for him to step up his game to another level when the playoffs start this weekend.
Although he finished 5th in Goals Against Average, Tyler Richards had a stellar year and was the MVP on this Stealth squad. He kept his team in a lot of games this year and at times stole the show. He faced 50 plus shots on 10 occasions this year while averaging 39 saves per game. T-Rich is the backbone of this team and if he’s hot this weekend, the Rush are in big trouble.
This Divisional Semi-final game goes Saturday at 7:30pm EDT at the Comcast Arena in Everett, Washington. Whoever comes out on top in this one will faceoff against the winner of the Colorado Mammoth vs Calgary Roughnecks game. Fans are in store for a great weekend as the opening round promises to be an intense battle of hard nosed lacrosse.
